Kelly Davis, of Port Carbon, Pa., places an evergreen on her advent wreath during the Advent Wreath Making event at St. Patrick’s Church Parish Center in Pottsville, Pa., on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. (Jacqueline Dormer, The Republican-Herald/AP)

Some Christian communities spend the four weeks before Christmas in the “Advent Zone” — others do not. Advent is derived from the Latin word for “arrival,” a period of preparation ahead of the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Dec. 25.

I rise to speak in favor of Advent’s splendors and pleasures. The feel of Advent is spiritual, ecumenical, interreligious, even meta-religious. It is the ultimate holiday frenzy disruptor. It’s time to put the Zen back in AdZent. Here’s a top ten of what Advent soul practice has to offer.

10. Contrariness. Advent is full-bore counter-cultural, as you’ll see below. It’s not brought to you by the three Draft Kings, or anybody; it’s a full on gift of conscious time.

9. Quiet. You are owed a certain amount of quiet, and Advent is full of opportunities. Sit with a book, or just a sentence, even a word or sound. BREATHE, listen to the rhythm of your heartbeat. Take time to read anything by Thich Nhat Hanh, a great peacemaking Buddhist monk, who strums the Advent themes in his many books and columns. Walk alone, paying attention to what you’ve missed on your journey so far. Be grateful for what you see.

8. Enoughness. Advent is time to decide how much is enough for you. Do you have enough money, friends, security? Do you have too much, too many? Things, pain, fears, gears, shoes, personality tests and types, bothersome burdens? Facebook or Twitter time? Guns? Is it time to start letting go of some of it? Much, most of it?

His bio: James Wall, the son of an Episcopal priest, is the contemplative-in-residence for the House for All Sinners and Saints, an eclectic Lutheran congregation in northeast Denver. Wall, a Zen student as well as a devotee of Jesus of Nazareth, is married with three children and lives in Cherry Hills Village. To pay his mortgage and feed his family, Wall runs Agency 33, a public relations firm with offices in downtown Denver.

Every week I meet with a Zen master to delve ever more intensely into the deep truth of who I am — familiar work for the serious Zen student.

This “Roshi,” as Zen Buddhist masters are known, is a bear of a man with a chuckle that is ever-present in routine conversation. Roshi’s stoutness, combined with the constant deep-throated giggle, reminds me every time I see him of the laughing Buddha of Chinese fable — an easily recognized figurine in many Eastern religion-themed shops.

But in a former life, Doshin Hannya “MJ” Nelson was an aggressive, judo-fighting corporate executive with a multinational company who became one of the first layoff victims of the dot-com crash in the late 1990s. He was an angry man, he said, aggressive to the point that he once got into a physical fight with his teenage son and lost, breaking both his hands in the process.

These days, after hundreds of seven-day silent Zen meditation retreats on top of Jungian and other forms of therapeutic inspection, Doshin has mellowed. His mission is to prevent war by spreading the insight to understand why conflict starts. The world could learn a lot from this man’s struggles and ultimate victory over violence.

Not that Doshin is all sugar and spice. Anyone who knows anything about Rinzai Zen is aware that it was once the spiritual path of the Samurai — the warrior caste of Japanese feudal society. While the Buddha’s message to his followers was to “wake up,” in Rinzai Zen there’s an urgency to that task. You must wake up now! You must sit until realization occurs and don’t move until it happens. Zen thus requires discipline and great determination to reach the ultimate goal of enlightenment. There’s not time to wait!

Where is your moral compass pointing? What are your social values? Hark will explore faith, morals, ethics and character at the intersection of religion ethics, culture, politics, media, science, education, economics and philosophy. At times this blog will alert readers to breaking news and trends. At times it will attempt to look more deeply into intriguing subjects. Hark means to listen attentively, and we will, as readers talk back to the news.